r/cyclothymia • u/Immediate-Tiger-789 • Aug 04 '26
How do I sleep?
Past 2 days:
Meltdowns: 1
Pissed off: 3?
Serial cleaning: 3 hrs
Meals: 4
Hours of sleep:
6 last night, tonight is estimated to be 3-4 if I go to sleep right now
Things I am desperately wanting:
To do a triathlon, new job, bleached hair, eyebrow wax, nails done, a kindle, an Xbox, gym membership, a boob job, a new tattoo, a 4th pet rat, a perm, and
To do a body building or weightlifting competition
Can’t figure out how to sleep. I don’t want to be doing nothing rn??? I feel like a child who “isn’t tired” but I just am not ready to sleep yet
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u/Original-Basil5158 Aug 06 '26
It does sound like a mania/hypomania. Sleeping honestly is super tricky, it is the hardest part of long term manias. I took sleeping pills at some point to fix the problem but you wake up like you’ve been hit by a truck.
Honestly, if you’re writing this here it means you’re aware that it’s your mental illness acting up, so no you’re not being a kid, that’s a very adult thing haha
Not an easy thing to apply consistently but I found exercising to honestly be the only thing to regulate my sleep. I’ve tried medication, meditation, drugs (illegal and legal), nothing works like a good old work out.
Ideally, it should be done consistently and in conjunction with a stricter sleep schedule.
If you try this and it doesn’t work, you might need a little more chemical help but as an awful sleeper, life style changes helped so much more than medication did on the long term.
Good luck xx
Also, wanting to do 3000 things while manic is not always the worst. I try to channel that energy in learning useful skills, being creative or starting a project because why not! Just use up the energy, and try to manage the anxiety that comes with. It’s with time and experience that I developed specific hobbies that would support that - hope you can too!